


The Silver Skies That I Can't Erase

by misura



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Post-Avengers (2012), Pre-Thor: The Dark World, Prison, Truth Serum
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:09:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25594075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misura/pseuds/misura
Summary: "My dear Sif. Come to see the monster in its cage?"
Relationships: Loki/Sif (Marvel)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 59
Collections: Rare Pairs Exchange 2020





	The Silver Skies That I Can't Erase

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TheYearOfTheWolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheYearOfTheWolf/gifts).



Loki looks pale and worn, and Sif reminds herself that he is here because he deserves it. There are some in Asgard who mutter he deserved worse, that Odin should have had him executed for his crimes.

Sif does not like to think of what she might have done if Odin had shown less mercy. She's grateful that she hasn't had to make that choice, that instead, she can assure herself that this is mercy, and kindness, and justice all in one.

"My dear Sif. Come to see the monster in its cage?"

"I see no monster," Sif says. She counted him her friend, once, before everything. A comrade in arms, more clever than strong perhaps, but of considerable value in a fight all the same.

"And do you not see a cage, either?" Loki asks. "Perhaps you think I stay here because I'm enjoying the view?"

He should have sunlight, Sif thinks. Walks - but how many guards would suffice to ensure he won't slip away? How many walks would it take before Loki has seen enough to plot an escape?

Loki grimaces. "Well. I'll admit that in this very moment, the view's not so bad."

There have been moments when Sif looked at him and desired him, wondered what it might feel like to feel those clever hands on her skin, to have that clever mouth used for something other than talking.

There have been moments when he looked back, she thinks, moments when something _almost_ happened, might have happened - but it never did and now, very likely, it's too late.

"If you're not going to say something, you might as well leave now. I promise I won't miss you," Loki says.

 _But we -_ I _miss_ you _,_ Sif thinks. What she says is, "I'll leave if you want me to leave."

Loki grins. "I'm touched. Such kindness. Tell me, what else will you do if I tell you I want you to?"

"I will not free you," Sif says. "I will not help you bring about the destruction of Asgard, or Odin, or whatever other plan you are hatching."

"Such a suspicious mind," Loki says. He sounds amused, though, more sure of himself. Sif thinks there might be some color to his face, some spark to his eyes. He's enjoying this, enjoying simply having someone to talk to.

Of course, with Loki, talking often involves getting pricked at and mocked.

"Am I wrong?" Sif challenges, less because she truly believes he will tell her anything and more because she knows he will expect it of her.

Loki meets her gaze briefly, before he turns away, feigning either vulnerability or shyness. "I would not ask you to do anything that goes against your precious principles. Or that's more likely to get you killed than do me any good. I do like you, Sif. I hope you know that."

He's looking at her again when he's saying the last line. She might almost believe him sincere. Perhaps so does he, but Sif knows a trickster does not change one's nature so easily.

She knows that he will use her for his purposes without a second thought, if she gives him half a chance.

"I really am beginning to feel I'm supplying more than my fair share of this conversation," Loki says. His smile is just right: wry, with a hint of bitterness, of hurt.

"You might ask me to come inside," Sif says. "I brought food." She holds up the basket by way of proof. It's meant for picnicking, but it serves well enough for her purpose. "We may sit and talk like - "

" - friends?" Loki smiles again. "Or more than friends? Is it pity that brought you here? Do you truly believe I have sunk so low as to think I would accept that?"

"I could leave," Sif says, because admitting she isn't sure would give Loki too much of an advantage.

"Perhaps you should. Perhaps that would be your wisest course of action. After all, what do I have left to offer you?"

"I'll take honesty," Sif says, stepping inside the room. The bars crackle softly, but she's not a prisoner; she's allowed to pass. "Good company."

The bars vanish, showing instead a meadow, a forest, a beach. "Do stop me when you see one that's to your liking," Loki says.

Sif shrugs by way of saying she didn't come here for the view.

Loki sighs and mutters something about people not appreciating his hospitality.

Sif sits and starts unpacking the food, and then they eat.

It becomes a bit of a habit, after that, a regular thing. 

Sif talks about her day, what she knows of current events in the Nine Realms, little as it is. Loki talks about the books he's read. They speak of past adventures, past battles, past victories, and the celebrations that followed after.

Loki never says, _we could have such adventures again, if you chose to - if you were to free me and give me a chance to use my magic for good, to make myself useful_.

Sif never says, _we could still be having such adventures, if you had chosen differently - we might have kissed one another in Vanaheim, or shared a bedroll on that cold night that one time when the others had left us by ourselves_.

Hogun and Volstagg both declare her mad for 'wasting her time', which Sif knows to mean they worry for her, worry she might get hurt by someone left with very few people to hurt.

Fandral is quiet, but he finds her what he assures her to be a bottle of wine of a rare but exquisite vintage in exchange for a promise to pass on his best wishes to Loki.

"Don't - " Loki says, snatching her hand before she can drink.

Sif barely manages not to drop her cup. Her first thought is poison but Fandral would never -

"Truth elixir." Loki grimaces.

Fandral would, perhaps, trick Loki into drinking something that compels him to tell the truth, Sif acknowledges. "Do you wish for me to leave?"

"Leave? And waste this marvelous prank?" Loki's eyes are bright. "When you might stay and get honest answers to any question you would ask of me? Surely not."

"I would have honesty from you because you choose to give it," Sif says.

"How could I, when doing so would be to risk losing you for good?" Loki replies. "Far easier to pretend we're friends, to tease you and prick at your pride and never speak of what it is I truly desire."

Sif knows she should leave. It would be the honorable thing to do, the kind thing. She says, "Tell me."

"Freedom, of course," Loki says, a little too quickly. He drinks more of the wine. "Predictable, I know."

Sif crushes the part of her that feels disappointed. It's folly, to get her hopes up when it comes to Loki: Hogun and Volstagg weren't wrong about that. "Where would you go?"

"Anywhere." Loki pours himself more wine. "You know, this actually isn't so bad. When I say 'anywhere', what I mean, of course, is anywhere safe. With you."

Sif blinks. Loki's expression is half-surprised, half-chagrined.

"Sif," he says. "I - I greatly value your opinion of me. Very greatly. More greatly than you probably know. If I thought, even for a moment - what are you doing?"

Fandral was right: the wine tastes quite exquisite. "I will never help you escape," Sif says, mostly to reassure herself that this is true. "I love you, but I will not betray my honor for your sake."

"I told you, I would never ask you to," Loki says.

"Because you so greatly value my opinion of you." Sif wants to laugh. She feels elated, reckless, like she's about to rush into battle. She wonders if it's a side-effect of the truth elixir.

"Yes." Loki swallows. "By which I mean - "

Sif kisses him. It seems more logical than continuing to talk, to watch Loki tie himself in knots by not lying.

"This is a very, very bad idea," Loki says, once Sif lets him up for air. "Have you considered - "

He kisses her back this time, though it takes him a while.


End file.
